


Soft Sounds and Steady Beats

by snowflight



Category: Purple Hyacinth (Webcomic)
Genre: But Still With Bantering, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Married Couple Energy, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Soft Kieran, Soft Lauren Too, unrealistically fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23950603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowflight/pseuds/snowflight
Summary: Lauren finds a moment of peace and comfort amidst the nightmares that haunt her.
Relationships: Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White
Comments: 14
Kudos: 127





	Soft Sounds and Steady Beats

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by [Drawstoria](https://www.instagram.com/drawstoria/)'s PH fanart of Kieran comforting Lauren with her nightmares. I actually tried my best to incorporate the dialogue in the fanart, which you can find in the Purple Hyacinth highlights on her Instagram page!

Lauren woke up to a scream. She scrambled upright, taking in shuddering breaths and clenching the sheets around her with shaking hands.

 _That was my scream,_ she realized dazedly as the world faded into existence. For the next few moments, the heavy, frenzied thumping of her heart was the only sound in the darkness.

 _That was just a dream._ She took in a deep inhale.

_Just a dream._

Exhale.

“I heard screaming.”

Lauren whipped her head around. Through the faint silver glow of moonlight that dimly lit the room, she could make out Kieran leaning against the doorframe of the open door.

“Oh.” She forced her tone to stay even. “You did?”

“I did, and I found it quite strange.” He raised an eyebrow. “Usually, I'm the cause of it.”

“And this time, miraculously, you’re not. You should feel lucky.”

Kieran let out a small laugh and began walking towards her bed.

“You know, when you scream and it’s not out of annoyance towards me, that gets a bit concerning.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and turned his head to face her. “Nothing should be bothering you more than I do. I like to make sure of that.”

“How sweet of you.”

“Don't get ahead of yourself there, darling.” His lips quirked upwards in a small smirk. **“I'm only doing this for my own ego.”**

“Then your ego can rest easy.” Lauren let her gaze drop to her hands. “I’m fine.”

But she could still hear the explosion as it roared to life right in front of her. Could still smell the sickening stench of smoke that filled the sky in its dark, merciless haze. 

Could still see Dylan’s smile. Hear his laugh.

Lauren clenched the blanket tighter, willing her fingers to stop shaking. 

“Would talking help?” Kieran said after a few moments. His voice was gentle—almost hesitant. 

She glanced back up at him. The humour in his expression was gone, replaced with what looked like concern. His gaze was soft, the usual sharp spark in his eyes melting into a mellow glow.

“I...” Lauren let out a sigh. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

Kieran blinked for a second, then opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, Lauren let herself fall towards him. He stiffened as the side of her body met his back.

“But I don’t feel like talking right now.” Lauren leaned her head on his shoulder. “Let me sleep.”

Kieran relaxed, letting out a small huff that sounded like both a laugh and a sigh. “I thought my back wasn’t that comfortable.”

“And I thought you were doing this for your own ego.”

“No, you didn’t.” She felt the rumble in his back as he let out a chuckle. “You heard the lie.”

“Then it’s a shame you weren’t able to hear the lie when I said your back wasn’t comfortable.” Her words ended with a small yawn as she closed her eyes.

Kieran said something in response, but she didn’t hear it.

Lauren had woken up to the sound of her own agonized scream and the sensation of her own heart's painful, frantic beating. 

But now, the only thing she heard was the soft sounds of Kieran’s breathing. The only thing she felt was the gentle rise and fall of his back. Her own breathing relaxed to match the peaceful rhythm that enveloped her, and she let the calm, steady thumps of his heartbeat lull her back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> .  
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> [Kym, the entire time.](https://tenor.com/view/lurking-creeping-lurker-creeper-browse-gif-7869977)
> 
> Okay so this was the fluffiest thing I've _ever_ written before, and combined with the fact that this has a -186% chance of happening in the real story currently, I was kind of dying the entire time while writing this. Partially from just this level of fluff that I wasn't used to, and also because it lowkey (Lauki? hahA) didn't feel right LOL
> 
>  _Buuuut_ this was completely self-indulgent anyways, so let's just ignore what's happening in canon right now. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did >:) 
> 
> _(Shout-out to the 5 a.m. PH server voice call squad for all the feedback and suggestions! And a special shout-out to Zeppy for providing me with that gif for Kym)_
> 
> As always, any feedback would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for reading!


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